Note: With the circus that is the Trump Administration, the threat that is being posed to the Iran Nuclear Deal is not getting the smallest fraction of the coverage it merits. Many people who have known me since before the invasion of Iraq will tell you that I am no alarmist when comes to whether there will be an attack on Iran. I believe my record shows that I have been a calming voice about hysteria when there was a lot of chest-thumping but clear and significant obstacles to an attack on Iran, but also very clear about it when pro-war forces were making real headway in pushing their policy ideas.

On that basis, I think it is absolutely crucial that this issue be raised a much higher profile now. Voices of even a shred of reason on this issue are few in this administration and even those are still overtly hostile and reckless (albeit less so than some others) toward Iran. There was virtually no challenge to including Iran in the recent bill issuing sanctions against Russia and North Korea (which is also a locus of real concern about Trump’s warlike policies). Most concerning, Senate Democrats were completely united in voting for the bill without a comment at all about whether Iran should be included (only Independent Bernie Sanders and Republican Rand Paul voted against the sanctions bill, and only Sanders made it explicit that he would have supported it if not for the inclusion of Iran).

Trump’s Iran policy is a serious threat to the entire Middle East, to the people of Iran and the Persian Gulf, and to US and Israeli security. A military confrontation with Iran is likely to be far costlier in terms of life and limb as well as economically than the invasion of Iraq was. But because of the hideous behavior of the US President in so many ways, the headlines about this story are relegated away from the proverbial front page. That needs to change immediately. My article, introduced below and posted in full at LobeLog, explains some of the potential consequences.

Donald Trump rarely tries to hide his intentions. When he intends to do something reckless that will seriously compromise not just US security but that of the entire world, he is not shy about sharing.

The prime example of this is Trump’s determination to destroy the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal struck between the P5+1 and Iran to limit Iran’s nuclear program. He made it clear during the 2016 presidential campaign that he wanted to do away with the Iran deal, and he’s been clear that this is still his intention. But until now, his own advisors have been able to restrain him, and Trump has twice been forced to acknowledge that Iran has been complying with the deal.

Last week, however, Trump sent a clear message: the president of the United States is insisting that his staff find a way for him to de-certify the deal, even though Iran is not in material breach of the agreement and no one, even in the United States, has been able to make the case that it is. As Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) put it, “The tangible danger of Trump’s malice on the Iran deal—as well as the danger of the advice of the ‘adults in the room’—became further clarified this week as tidbits of the reality TV star’s plans began to leak.” Read more at LobeLog

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